Although the Motorola XOOM managed to get a slight head start in making some headlines so far this year in the tablet market, we’re already seeing the Apple iPad 2 demonstrating its might as it flexes its muscles in hopes of retaining its crown amongst the newest generation of tablets out there. On one hand, we have the Motorola XOOM that’s backed with the overhauled Android 3.0 Honeycomb experience, and bevy of next-generation hardware to keep it up with the times for a while. And of course, there is the iPad 2, which uniquely modified our perception with its intricate razor thin profile – while still making some moderate improvements over its predecessor. Precisely on schedule, these two juggernauts in the tablet arena will undoubtedly capture the attention of the world right now, but which one will keep you interested in the long run?

Design:

Unsurprisingly, the iPad 2 obliterates all prior notions of what tablet design should follow since it literally blew off the front cover with its amazingly thin razor profile. Even though we might think that the Motorola XOOM’s 0.50” thickness is respectable, the 0.34” thickness of the iPad 2 makes for an instant jaw dropping realization – especially when Apple touts that its battery life is unchanged. Even more for the iPad 2, we prefer its brushed aluminum casing seeing that it’s better equipped at repelling scratches, debris, and fingerprints. Unfortunately for the XOOM, its metallic rear casing is awfully prone to retaining dirt and is rather difficult to clean as well. Give any individual a choice between the two, the attention grabber easily goes to the iPad 2 nine out of ten times.

The Apple iPad 2 (left) is thinner than the Motorola XOOM (right)

Barely considered a major difference, the Motorola XOOM sports the larger of the two screens with its sizeable 10.1” LCD display versus the 9.7” IPS display of the iPad 2. Even though the XOOM boasts a higher resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, it doesn’t drastically offer any better clarity or detail over the iPad 2’s resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. However, it’s obvious that the iPad 2 produces richer looking colors since darker colors, like black, appear to look smokey in tone on the XOOM. Moreover, the viewing angles on the iPad 2 are superb which make it supremely better to view in outdoor settings. Lastly, the oleophobic coating on the iPad 2’s display makes it very easy to clean versus the XOOM.

In our experience, there are rare instances when we would accidentally press the virtual buttons of the Motorola XOOM. Still, the springy home button of the iPad 2 soundly eliminates any hint of potentially pressing it by accident.

Placed in a familiar location, the dedicated power button of the iPad 2 still retains that prominence which is equally complemented by its solid tactile feel. Uncharacteristically, the XOOM’s recessed power button is located in the back of the tablet, however, it perfectly lines up with our index finger as we hold it in landscape.

Without a doubt, the volume rocker of the iPad 2 is exponentially better than the tiny and rather stiff felling volume buttons with the XOOM. In addition to that, we find the silence switch of the iPad 2 to come in handy for quickly turning off its speaker.

Since the iPad 2 carries over the same single speaker, it’s nice to see that the XOOM employs two speakers, left and right, which enables it to deliver stereo sound. However, the speaker grill with the iPad 2 is placed more at an angle which aids it in better dispersing audio.

And if you want to easily share content, you’ll probably adore the list of traditional ports on the Motorola XOOM – like its microUSB and microHDMI ports. Specifically, you can output the XOOM’s display to your high-definition television by simply connecting it with an HDMI cable. But if you want to do the same thing with the iPad 2, you’ll need to purchase its optional digital HDMI adapter that snaps into the proprietary 30-pin port.

Power buttons

Speakers

Ports

The Apple iPad 2 (top) and the Motorola XOOM (bottom)

When it comes down to cameras, the XOOM manhandles the iPad 2 in this category since it features a front-facing 2.0-megapixel camera and a rear 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash. Comparing it to the iPad 2’s paltry 0.3-megapixel front facing camera and less than 0.7-megapixel rear camera, it’s already giving away a good indication as to which one will provide the better quality.

On the front

On the back

The backs of the tablets

Cameras of the Apple iPad 2 (top) and the Motorola XOOM (bottom)

Despite not having easy access to their batteries, it’s nice to see that you can increase the storage capacity of the XOOM thanks to its microSD card slot. At the same time, it enables you to quickly share content – whereas on the iPad 2, you’ll need to connect its USB cable to get things transferred.

The sides of the Apple iPad 2 (top) and the Motorola XOOM (bottom)

Finally, the XOOM still has one ace up its sleeve that has yet to show itself that will give it faster data speeds than the iPad 2. Down the road, the XOOM will be retrofitted with a 4G LTE modem that will provide next-generation data speeds – which will outperform the 3G speeds found with the iPad 2.

62 Comments

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1.3MTA3 (unregistered)

Finally a picture that accurately represents the size of the XOOM over the maxipad 2(Above). And yes, XOOM wins as the only thing the maxipad 2 has over the XOOM is the slim form factor - that is it!
Oh, and add this:
maxipad2:

Poor cameras--VGA 0.3MP?!?! That's just sad! with no flash on rear camera
NO standard ports--hdmi, usb => purchase an expensive proprietary dongle.
NO SD expansion slote => make sure you upgrade to the larger version because you can't expand the memory or have easy file transfers.
NO 4G LTE=> that just gimps the device => upgrade to iPad 3 asap
NO HD screen - retina display may not be possible but at least a bump to HD would have been nice.
Resolution: 1024 x 768 pixels - OUCH! That is bad - old-school tech baby
NO Adobe flash support
Only 512MB RAM. . . what's that about?
Storage? ??? 16GB or 32?

26.Crucial (unregistered)

Hmm...why is it maxipad 2?? You don't know how to spell properly is it? It's "iPad 2".
Poor camera? -- Well, as long as it gets the job done, then I am fine with it.
No standard ports? -- Hmm..how many people actually use them on a tablet? No matter how you argue, it can never replace your laptop. It is just a tablet, for Christ sake. You use it mainly to check mails, do some leisure reading, surf the web and play games. I won't use a tablet to format my USB drive and that's the truth.
No SD expansion slot? -- I still don't really get why people wants to have an SD slot? Isn't NAND stable enough for you??
No 4g? -- Tell me about it. Watch the comparison from PhoneArena and see how the Droid X running on 3G pwned the Thunderbolt running on 4GGGGG!
No HD screen? -- Ya, that sucks. But I won't even want to replace IPS screen for some cheap regular HD TFT screen that is completely inferior when it comes to color rendering and sharpness production. Plus, on that type of screen, you won't really notice it unless you pit it against the Retina or S.Amoled plus.
No Adobe? -- Heck, Adobe is even releasing a software to allow developers to convert Flash to HTML 5. LOL?
512 RAM? -- I agree with you on this one. Should have been at least 1GB.

2.Rich (unregistered)

21.Socalvenom (unregistered)

If your serious about buying an Ipad 2 just because it looks like nice! and you'd get attention while drinking overpriced coffee at starbucks. You my friend are a noob. What are you going to do when you wanna watch something or read something or look at something and a sign that says "Does not support Flash content" appears on your screen? NOTHING that's what because your Ipad doesn't support flash hence your left complaining and later regret like so many people wishing they never bought it. I myself was like you once on the brink of wasting money on a product that looked nice but made no sense. My advice use that money on a new laptop which does everything any tablet can does X 100!!

3.IOS5 (unregistered)

Motorola better you must be kidding me! Xoom looks like a tray first of all buggy os no flash support yet and what the use of sd card and 5 m pixel camera
with LED flash and already I have it in the phone with better setting. Did motorola has a 300,000 apps and same quality as iPad 2! No, did Motorola has 9x graphic better than iPad 2! No,did motorola xoom has usual update in time! No. So when it comes to functinolty in xoom tab Android phones has the same functinolty so what the deal?!

4.3MTA3 (unregistered)

"Xoom looks like a tray" - ???? Not
"buggy os" Not - Honeycomb rocks!
"no flash support yet" YET YET YET YET - Nice try
"what the use of sd card and 5 m pixel camera" - MANY, like quality pictures and 32GB of storage space for HD video and pictures and files is NEVER something to overlook. Oh, you forgot it is a 5MP camera with LED flashes. And if the cameras were so 'unimportant why does the maxipad have them? Hum?
"Did motorola has a 300,000 apps and same quality as iPad 2!" Dis the maxipad have that many apps when it first came out? are there apps coming out every day for the Android Market? YES, soon it will be more than 500,000 and after a few thousand apps would you really know the difference? Keep try'n
"..Motorola has 9x graphic better than iPad 2?" YES, Tegra says it all.
Update time? Wow you are really trying to come up with something eh? You can't even counter attack my first post and I just pawned yours.

28.Honeycomb FTW (unregistered)

Well put!!!

Google nailed the tablet UI with Honeycomb! It's the best user interface I've seen. . . for any device. I really like it. And it is easy to use than iOS--anyone saying otherwise clearly hasn't played with it and/or is brainwashed by using iOS devices.

Motorola has put together top quality hardware. . . period!

Tegra 2--are you kidding. It's NVIDIA, the gpu king! ifans will try to point to the anandtech benchmarks to say the iPad 2 gpu is better than the Tegra 2, wrong! Those benchmarks are flawed big time--ignores 30% higher pixel density of the Xoom, no hardware acceleration for the Tegra 2 gpu for many of those benchmarks but is enabled for the A5--just a joke. And game devs have already stated that the iPad 2 can't handle the HD games the Tegra 2 can (source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379264,00.asp )

Top that off with real world side by side comparisons and the Xoom loads web pages faster, plays any game the iPad 2 can just as easily. . . and has FLASH = thousands of free flash games available not to mention lots of flash apps.

apps. . .
Since Honeycomb uses the full Google Chrome web browser you get to use all the Chrome web apps (1,300) and all the Chorme extensions (13,000), and all flash games and apps (tens of thousands), and all web 2.0 apps--google docs, zoho, live office, yahoo mail, hotmail, games, etc. (tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands). Don't be fooled! Because iOS devices can only install apps from the app market they are limited. Android devices can install and use all the apps of any Android market, web apps, flash apps, etc. And to top it off, Android phone apps scale properly to use a larger screen without being all pixelated using a 2x mode like iOS device which means any properly made Android phone apps will stretch fine for the tablet and games will usually be perfect--like angry birds.

The only reasons to buy and iPad 2 over a Xoom? It's thinner, slightly longer battery life, slightly lighter, and you will look like an iTool with it.

5.IOS5goBACKtoSCHOOL (unregistered)

Before you go public and post comments on websites you should consider learning how to talk like a human. " Did motorola has a 300,000 apps and same quality as iPad 2! No, did Motorola has 9x graphic better than iPad 2! No,did motorola xoom has usual update in time!" WTF!! You people irritate the F out of me. I don't wanna hear your input when you can't spell input, got me. Now for all of you that want to talk about how you'll never use a camera on a tablet check this out. REMEMBER the posts on the original iPad "apple should have added a camera", "I wish it had a camera". Now that there is one and a crappy one at that, now you have to attack Motorola because "theres no need for a camera" at least when I do take pictures with my tablet and want to upload or print at least the photos will look decent. Have you ever tried printing a half MP photo. For God sakes the LG Accolade has the iPad beat with a 1.3 MP. I never plan on taking wedding photos with this but today when I take my daughter to the park and she does something cute I can snap the photo and at least have a worth while shot.

Yes, the iPad is a sexy piece of hardware and yes the new processor is sweet, but everybody out there is looking for features to fit their needs. So before you go out there and down talk features even though the "people" asked for it. GO BACK TO SCHOOL.

Nice going. Because it would be absolutely preposterous to think that somebody who's NOT AMERICAN is posting on the WORLD WIDE WEB.

maybe you need to go back to school tool bag. next time you're trying to make a point, don't use grammar as a basis for your debate. it's just sad when somebody as closed minded as you rants about how "inferior" other's grammar is.

20.IOS5goBACKtoSCHOOL (unregistered)

Maybe, he does need the iPad 2 because its simple design matches his simple mind. That doesn't mean he can talk down about something else and not even make sense. If your going to rant about something compare apples to apples. Not apples to oranges. XOOM beat iPad 2 in 8 out of 10 categories, not just on one website either. So if your into the sleek design, coffee shops and the whole metrosexual thing go ahead and get the iPad. It's just not my style.

29.Honeycomb FTW (unregistered)

Google nailed the tablet UI with Honeycomb! It's the best user interface I've seen. . . for any device. I really like it. And it is easy to use than iOS--anyone saying otherwise clearly hasn't played with it and/or is brainwashed by using iOS devices.

Motorola has put together top quality hardware. . . period!

Tegra 2--are you kidding. It's NVIDIA, the gpu king! ifans will try to point to the anandtech benchmarks to say the iPad 2 gpu is better than the Tegra 2, wrong! Those benchmarks are flawed big time--ignores 30% higher pixel density of the Xoom, no hardware acceleration for the Tegra 2 gpu for many of those benchmarks but is enabled for the A5--just a joke. And game devs have already stated that the iPad 2 can't handle the HD games the Tegra 2 can (source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2379264,00.asp )

Top that off with real world side by side comparisons and the Xoom loads web pages faster, plays any game the iPad 2 can just as easily. . . and has FLASH = thousands of free flash games available not to mention lots of flash apps.

apps. . .
Since Honeycomb uses the full Google Chrome web browser you get to use all the Chrome web apps (1,300) and all the Chorme extensions (13,000), and all flash games and apps (tens of thousands), and all web 2.0 apps--google docs, zoho, live office, yahoo mail, hotmail, games, etc. (tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands). Don't be fooled! Because iOS devices can only install apps from the app market they are limited. Android devices can install and use all the apps of any Android market, web apps, flash apps, etc. And to top it off, Android phone apps scale properly to use a larger screen without being all pixelated using a 2x mode like iOS device which means any properly made Android phone apps will stretch fine for the tablet and games will usually be perfect--like angry birds.

The only reasons to buy and iPad 2 over a Xoom? It's thinner, slightly longer battery life, slightly lighter, and you will look like an iTool with it.

7.3MTA3 (unregistered)

9.3MTA3 (unregistered)

Come on bucky show me the reasons why the maxipad is better than the XOOM - according to your post you 'knew' the reasons. I anxiously wait to see your list and make sure they are points that are 'better' than the XOOM now.....*you think we will ever hear from bucky again*

42.Roly134 (unregistered)

So true bucky. These dimwits are probably in highschool and have nothing better to do on their lunch break than to post all day.

Great comparison Phonearena it really shows how great the Ipad 2 is. It also goes to show you that one of the most important parts of the tablet (the screen) is better on the ipad even with a lower resolution.
You can't always go by the specs.......

30.Honeycomb FTW (unregistered)

You mean wasting your money on an Apple product.

Let's see. Apple cripples every product release so they can get you to upgrade each year. How did that work this year for the iPad 2?
Only 512MB RAM vs Xoom's 1GB
vga/0.7mp cameras Vs Xoom's 2/5 MP
mono speaker Vs Xoom's stereo
proprietary ports & no SD expansion slot = can't expand memory.
No 4G

38.Beaker (unregistered)

yet people keep coming back for more. your precious xoom's are collecting dust and wasting more shelf space because nobody wants them. apple must be doing something right, because motorola sure isnt. at least sanitation workers wont be out of jobs. they should have plenty of work piling those useless xooms in the landfills. or they can just recycle them to make more shitty motorola devices like that impressive Devour, or the Citrus, or that "reliable" Droid A855 lol.

44.@Beaker (unregistered)

Apple sells primarily to Apple users. . . they are getting very few non-Apple users to buy their junk. Sure, the itards line up for anything with an Apple label on it and therefore Apple gets great begining sales but then what happens? Just like the iPhone, sales will slow and it will be stuck at a minority share of the market and Android will continue on with it's steady consistently fast growing sales.

So. . . yuck it up while you can because by the end of this year Android tablets will be outselling your precious iPad. And don't even try the "but the iPad is different" argument.

11.IOS5 (unregistered)

Go back to school cuz of camera?! Ok when you have a phone with 12 mp camera and xoom tab which one you gonna use?! And for the ppl said that Nivdia Tegra has a better graphic than VRX545 google it and you will know which one is the best even though the 5 mp camera in xoom tab not that great it's the same camera in Atrix 4g right it's good camera but not v good.

12.3MTA3 (unregistered)

"......it's good camera but not v good.........."
BETTER TAN THE ipad2's CAMERA! What is wrong with you people? Don't you know how to debate? It's 5MP's -> what does the ipad have? That is the point here

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